Maryland’s New Emmett Till Alert System Issues Its First Alert at ‘Severe’ Level

Maryland’s new Emmett Till Alert System released a “severe” warning Sunday night that involves threats of possible violence against Black child care centers.

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The Caucus of African American Leaders puts out the alerts, which are similar to Amber Alerts, but are focused on hate crimes and other incidents targeting minorities.

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This first alert was the highest possible warning that Black day care centers are being targeted for possible acts of violence by hate groups online. Leaders said the threat was identified and vetted by the system’s own panel of intelligence experts.

“The reason this one came out … ‘severe’ — the highest we can — (is) because it involves, potentially, people’s lives, and so we wanted to make sure that people take it seriously,” said Carl Snowden, with the Caucus of African American Leaders. {snip}

“Make no mistake about this. This is based on a credible, credible threat,” said Robert Johnson, with the Caucus of African American Leaders.

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A representative of the Anne Arundel County Police Department told 11 News in a statement: “We have no specific threats at this time, and we’re looking into it.”

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At this point, the alerts are sent to an invitation-only network that includes members of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus, Black clergy leaders and leaders of national civil rights organizations.